No actor has signed to play the next James Bond. Amazon MGM, which now controls the character, confirmed in May that casting was under way, and producer Amy Pascal has said the end of the year is “a good bet” for an announcement. The BBC notes that it has never been clear whether the rumoured names rest on inside information or guesswork.
Only six actors have played Bond in the official series since Dr. No in 1962, fewer than the number of prime ministers Britain has had in the last ten years, and half the number of people who have walked on the Moon. The franchise has not announced a new Bond since 2005.
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Who controls the search, and what it’s rumoured to have cost
Producers Amy Pascal and David Heyman took charge of the new film in March 2025. Three months later, Amazon MGM named Denis Villeneuve, the director of Dune and Arrival, to direct it, after Alfonso Cuarón removed himself from contention. Villeneuve beat out Edward Berger, Jonathan Nolan, Paul King and Edgar Wright for the job, and called it “a huge honour.”
The deal that put Amazon MGM in charge closed in February 2025, when the studio struck an agreement with the franchise’s longtime stewards, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, for full creative control of the character. Reports disagree on what that cost. The Guardian reported the deal at $1 billion. The BBC reported that Amazon paid at least $20 million more, on top of the $8.5 billion it had already spent buying MGM outright in 2021. Amazon MGM has not confirmed either figure.
Before ceding control, Broccoli and Wilson had set three conditions of their own: the next Bond should be British, young enough to stay in the role for at least 15 years, and a man. Amazon MGM has not said whether it plans to keep any of them.
The names in play, and how the audition works
The names in circulation have included Jacob Elordi, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Callum Turner, Henry Cavill, Harris Dickinson, James Norton, Jack O’Connell and Jack Lowden. Variety has reported that stage actor Tom Francis auditioned for the role, and Page Six has claimed Paul Mescal and Jack Barton are on the audition list. Entertainment writer Daniel Richtman wrote on social media last month that casting was reportedly in its final round, with a decision possibly already made. Journalist Jeff Sneider said he had heard the same, and doubted the choice was Jacob Elordi, the only Australian among the names in circulation.
The audition itself reportedly follows a scene from From Russia With Love, in which Bond walks out of a bathroom to find Tatiana Romanova waiting in his bed. Martin Campbell, who directed GoldenEye and Casino Royale, told the entertainment site Gold Derby that the scene tests one thing above all: whether an actor looks “effortless.”
Who has played Bond before
Sean Connery opened the Eon series with Dr. No in 1962. George Lazenby took over next, then Roger Moore, followed by Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and finally Daniel Craig. Craig’s fifth and last film, No Time to Die, was also the 25th the series had made, and it took more than $774 million at the global box office. Two more actors played Bond outside Eon’s control: David Niven in a 1967 spoof of Casino Royale, and Connery again in 1983’s Never Say Never Again. Across those 25 films, the series has grossed more than $7 billion.
Debbie McWilliams, who cast the last 14 Bond films across four decades, faced the question directly at a festival talk in July. Variety’s Leo Barraclough asked who would get the part next. She said plainly: “I neither know, and I have no opinion.” She was firmer on one point. Asked whether Bond could be played by a woman or a non-white actor, she said: “No, I don’t think so.” On the search itself, she offered no rule at all. “There’s no set rule,” she said. “It’s whoever fits the bill.”
